Why evidence-based medicine matters in veterinary practice

A new SkeptVet essay is making a familiar argument feel newly urgent: evidence-based medicine matters because veterinary professionals are human, and human judgment is fallible. In the December 3, 2025, post, Brennen McKenzie describes EBM as a way to manage the profession’s built-in vulnerabilities, including confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and misplaced confidence, at a time when he says misinformation is rampant and science is increasingly under attack. (skeptvet.com)

That message lands in a profession where evidence-based veterinary medicine has been steadily formalized for more than 20 years. A 2025 commentary in Veterinary Evidence traces EBVM’s modern development to the early 2000s and says it has since spread through academic, regulatory, and clinical settings. The same paper notes that AVMA and CVMA expect veterinarians to practice using scientific knowledge and evidence-based decision-making, while RCVS has built EBVM into resources, training, and professional support for veterinary teams. (veterinaryevidence.org)

The core definition is consistent across institutions, even if the emphasis varies. The Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association defines EBVM as integrating the best available research with clinical expertise and the unique needs or wishes of each client. RCVS Knowledge similarly says EBVM means applying the best and most relevant scientific evidence while accounting for the individual patient and the context of care delivery. In McKenzie’s telling, that process is not just technical. It’s philosophical: a disciplined way to stay closer to what is true, and to put the right amount of confidence in what clinicians think they know. (ebvma.org)

McKenzie’s post also reflects a broader debate inside evidence-based medicine itself. The Veterinary Evidence commentary praises EBVM’s influence, but also argues that the field should keep examining its practical and philosophical limits, especially in a profession where high-quality research can be thin, species differences complicate extrapolation, and clinicians still have to make decisions under uncertainty. That tension is important: evidence-based practice is not a rigid hierarchy that replaces judgment, but a framework for making better judgments when the evidence is incomplete, conflicting, or distorted by bias. (veterinaryevidence.org)

Industry and professional commentary increasingly connects that framework to misinformation. A 2025 STAT opinion piece on veterinary “wellness” misinformation warned that anti-science messaging, influencer culture, and distrust of veterinary and public health expertise can push pet parents toward poorly supported products or practices, including around raw diets and infectious disease risk. While that article focused on companion animal health and public health threats, the underlying concern maps closely to McKenzie’s point: without a shared commitment to evaluating evidence, bad information can spread faster than careful clinical guidance. (statnews.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the practical value of EBVM is not abstract. It shapes how teams evaluate new therapies, how they discuss uncertainty with pet parents, how they defend standards of care, and how they respond when social media, marketing, or anecdote conflicts with the literature. In a misinformation-heavy environment, EBVM gives clinicians a common language for saying not just what they recommend, but why. It also helps practices distinguish between open-mindedness and false balance, especially when pressure builds to treat all claims as equally credible. That’s particularly relevant in categories where evidence is often overstated, underpowered, or selectively presented. (ebvma.org)

There’s also an operational angle. RCVS Knowledge has built journal watch, journal clubs, evidence collections, and toolkits around helping veterinary teams bring EBVM into daily practice, suggesting the profession increasingly sees evidence appraisal as a workflow need, not just an academic ideal. That infrastructure matters because one of the biggest barriers to evidence-based care is not disagreement with the concept, but the time and skill required to find, appraise, and apply research in real clinical settings. (rcvsknowledge.org)

What to watch: The next phase is likely to focus less on defining EBVM and more on implementation, especially in continuing education, clinical protocols, and communication strategies that help veterinarians counter misinformation while preserving trust with pet parents. As debates continue over alternative therapies, online health claims, and the role of AI in information access, expect evidence appraisal skills to become even more central to veterinary practice. (veterinaryevidence.org)